A few new stories out of France tonight in the wake of the passage of the marriage equality bill.

First off, Manif Pour Tous, the anti gay group in France, promises nationwide protests on may 5th. Their statement yesterday, from Joe.My.God:

The debate was yet again extremely tense at the Assemblee, though the French are rallying more than ever against “marriage for all”, the law was voted, 331 for, 225 against. Shouts of joy and applause greeted this on the side of the bill’s supporters, while opponents quickly left the building. Frigide Barjot and Tugdual Derville were showered with insults as they exited the Assemblee. In the peaceful spirit of La Manif Pour Tous, they did not attempt replies. Not far from there, LGBT activists are already starting to demand assisted reproductive technologies for women, proving that “marriage for all” is only the beginning. Assisted reproductive technologies and surrogacy will always come back on the debate table, and much sooner than we think.

Business Insider reports that a few conservative assembly members accidentally voted for the marriage equality bill:

However, it appears the voting process confused some politicians. According to Le Point, noted right wing UMP politician and vocal opponent of gay marriage) Henri Guaino accidentally voted in favor of the bill, despite meaning to oppose it. Worse still, three other members of his party (Luc Chatel, Alain Christian, and Marianne Dubois) also made the same mistake.

Why is there so much opposition to marriage equality in France? Max Barley at Bloomberg pinpoints three causes:

France is suffering through its most severe economic contraction since 2009, unemployment is at a 15-year high, and most forecasts for 2014 — including the government’s own — don’t indicate much of an improvement… There is a religious component. France is a predominantly Catholic country (about 83 percent of the population) and the church, along with Muslim and Jewish religious authorities, has made clear its opposition to same-sex marriage… There also is a faction that appears to be fine with the idea of marriage, but can’t accept the subsection of the law that allows same-sex couples to adopt (a close majority of French people, 53 percent, oppose adoption by gay couples).

The Vatican’s semi-official newspaper has taken a swipe at French President Francois Hollande, claiming that he ignored the “many voices” of French people who opposed equal marriage. The Osservatore Romano on Wednesday published a piece which accused the French President of ignoring the wishes of French citizens, and causing divisions in French society. “The government of President Hollande, who has strongly supported the bill, did not pay attention to the many voices in recent months from many sectors of French society. And not only by Catholics,” the newspaper said.

Can’t feel to bad for the folks at the Vatican on this. The stomped their feet and threw a huge tantrum, but in the end it didn’t matter, and justice prevailed.

2 Comments so far ↓

1/ 83% of the population being catholic is a totally made up number. Official religious affiliation statistics are forbidden in France. The only numbers are the one provided by the church itself. And they are staggering: only 35.8% of French children are baptized and 18% of French couples choose to marry in church. A 2003 opinion poll showed that only 54% of the French population believed in God, 46% declaring themselves atheist, agnostics or indifferent.

2/ be careful with numbers provided by the “manif pour tous” (like the ones on this map). They proved in many occasion that they like to make up numbers. Their latest march supposedly gathered 300,000 people when the police video-surveillance could only count 45,000.

The bottom line: a loud minority is trying to capture the public attention and make it believe the “good people” of France is against marriage equality. It’s simply false. Most people are pro-equality (or simply indifferent) and are getting tired of this display of hate.